USAFrom the book "How to Beat Pain" by Christine Craggs-Hinton:
"The muscles that have been shortened and made taut by trigger points often pinch neighbouring nerves- and when a nerve is pinched, the electrical impulses carried along that nerve cause numbness, tingling, or stabbing in the areas the nerve serves. A pinched nerve in the upper back or neck will generally cause numbness, tingling or stabbing in the arms and hands. A pinched nerve in the lower back will generally cause the same sensations in the legs and feet.
A muscle affectd by a trigger point is capable also of compressing an artery, reducing its blood flow and making a distant area feel cold. When this occurs in a particular neck muscle (the anterior scalene) the result can actually be a swollen wrist and hand. Trigger pints in a particular clf muscle ( the soleus) can obstruct the return of blood in a veing, causing a swollen ankle or foot.
The heart, blood vessels, repiratory system, skin, glands, and digestive system are controlled by the body's autonomic system (i.e. the body's unconscious nervous system which controls functions such as heartbeat and breathing). Trigger points on the smooth muscles of this sytem have been shown to cause such strange effects as nasal excretion, excessive salivation, blurred vision, excessiv tearing, reddening of the eyes, a droopy eyelid, goosebumps, dizziness and even emotional distress."
sue in ohio
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